It goes without saying that for nurse practitioners, the understanding of fundamental patterns of knowing in the field of nursing is immeasurably significant for efficient health care delivery and the development of leadership skills. The practical application of patterns helps to avoid further mistakes in nursing practice as a professional may analyze the accuracy of his or her decisions and actions using aesthetics, personal, ethics, and empirical knowledge. In addition, for health care providers, the examination of the nursing metaparadigm is highly essential for the understanding of nursing theory in general
The metaparadigm in nursing includes four key concepts – person, environment, nursing, and health. A person is defined as the recipient of health care, and the concept of a person may include individual patients, families, groups, and communities. The delivery of health care should be provided with the consideration of the people’s culture, personal characteristics, family, religion, and socioeconomic status. The environment is both external and internal surroundings that may have an impact on a patient. The concept of environment includes all inner negative and positive conditions that influence a person, external factors, families, friends, and the settings of the medical facility that was chosen for health care delivery.
The concept of nursing includes the characteristics, attributes, actions, and knowledge of a nurse who executes his or her practice and delivers health care to a patient. There are numerous evaluations of nursing provided by multiple nursing scholars, however, the main purpose of nursing and nursing theories consists in the improvement of patient care. Finally, health is regarded as the degree of a person’s well-being or wellness. Health may be defined and valued in different ways by different patients according to their peculiarities and cultural values and beliefs. The concept of health includes the personality and competence of a health care provider and the clinical setting as well.
From a personal perspective, the most surprising aspect of the examination of the nursing metaparadigm is the absence of a universal approach. When I was investigating the concepts of the metaparadigm, I discovered that they were interpreted by three nursing theorists – Florence Nightingale, Jean Watson, and Dorothea Orem (Branch, Deak, Hiner, & Holzwart, 2016). However, despite the fact that there are differences and similarities in their visions, all scientists aimed to develop the sphere of nursing and achieve the highest level of health care delivery.
In general, from a theoretical review and personal experience, I have made a certain conclusion concerning the elements of the nursing paradigm. First of all, I realized that every patient is unique. His or her health may be regarded as the combination and balance of mental, spiritual, and emotional aspects. Every person, family, or community have their own unique values, belief, experience, and vision of health care and the nurse practitioner’s competence. However, all these peculiarities and differences should be considered and respected. Despite all well-defined standards and guidelines of nursing, every person cannot be treated the same way, personally or medically. Moreover, I understood that all elements of the nursing metaparadigm are inseparably connected with each other. A nurse practitioner should apply medical knowledge to prove care for a client that has his or her personal opinion about health that was formed under the influence of this person’s environment. That is why the nursing paradigm that represents nursing theories is incomparably significant in the nurse’s practice.
Reference
Branch, C., Deak, H., Hiner, C., & Holzwart, T. (2016). Four nursing metaparadigms. Indiana University South Bend Undergraduate Research Journal, 16, 123-132.